Dreams of Heather
by ReaperHunter000
Summary: A new raccoon named Ira has been living in the hedge for almost 2 months in secrecy before finally talking to and falling in love with heather. Ira X Heather Please R
1. Welcome to The Hedge

**Chapter 1: Welcome to The Hedge**

****Authors Note** Hey this is my first Over the Hedge FanFiction so, please be lineate on it. If you like Alpha and Omega then you should check out my 2 stories I have posted for it. Well anyway, on with the story. **

The small refuge of forested area that remained amongst the modern suburbia was a welcome home for newcomers. So long as you passed as O.K. with Verne that is. But when your out of options and have no place left to go, you will hide wherever you have to. Secluding yourself from a group of animals who have no idea of your existence, and taking recourses from their woods, it isn't easy. But this was the life that Ira had chosen to live.

He was a raccoon with deep grey fur and black striping around his tail and back. The black 'mask' around his eyes was mixed with white flakes of fur looking like it had snowed on him. He was a quick thinker, always staying at least three steps ahead of everyone else in the forest, which helped him stay completely hidden and oblivious to them all.

He had no memories of his family, as far as he knew he was an orphan. He had been alone for years growing less and less social each day. The only way he even kept himself from forgetting how to speak was by talking to himself occasionally. It was a sad life indeed, but he was too afraid of the reactions of the other animals that it was essential he remained hidden.

Unfortunately for him though, there was one little member of that group that seemed out to get him. Through listening in to their conversations he learned that a little orange squirrel named Hammy, had supposedly spotted him on a number of occasions. Which only added to his paranoia and made him grow even more distant from them. But there was only one thing that kept him from running off and finding a new home. It was a young little possum named Heather.

He had watched her from afar for almost two months and was growing tired of the distance between them. Several times he had tried to get close enough to talk to her, but whenever he would get close someone would call for her and she would take off. He would scold himself constantly for trying to get close to her, it's not that he didn't like her, it's that he was afraid of her reaction.

"She would be afraid of you," he would whisper at night.

"No, she will like you," he tried to argue with himself. Hours would pass as he sat leaned up against the trunk of a tall oak tree. Every night in the same branch he would get hardly any sleep at all for the constant bickering of his own mind. He had almost had enough of it.

Then one day, he caught a lucky break. All of the animals but Heather went through the massive shrub to gather food giving him the perfect opportunity to talk to her. As much as he wanted to come towards her slowly, he had to move fast before the others returned. He followed her through the woods until she stopped by a small pond and started humming happily as played with her fur. He walked up to her side slowly and took one massive gulp before finally talking.

"H-hello," he said nervously. She jumped at first, a little surprised by his arrival but smiled at him.

"Oh hello, I don't believe we've met before," she said cheerfully. He just stuttered nervously for a second as he searched for the words he needed.

"W-uh, we haven't, my name is Ira," he said shakily as he held out his hand to shaker hers. She smiled and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you Ira, I'm Heater," she replied still as cheerful as ever, "so how come I haven't seen you around here before".

"Because, um, well I was afraid of how you would react to meeting me," he said looking around fully expecting someone to be listening.

"Well there's nothing to be afraid of, we all like meeting new people and I'm sure everyone would like to have you around, come on I'll take you to meet them" she said standing up and taking his hand. He froze in place instantly. He wanted to go with her, but he didn't want the others to know about him.

"Um, maybe later I uh have to get washed up first," he said quickly trying to make up an excuse. She looked back at him with a pleading look, as if she didn't want to let him go.

"Well, alright but you have to come meet everyone when you get done, ok?" she said taking both of his hands.

"I promise," he said smiling back at her. She let out a squeal of excitement and hugged him quickly before running off to give him some privacy. Once she was out of sight he stumbled back against a tree and grabbed his chest.

"Sit still my beating heart," he whispered letting out a sigh. He looked down at his hands that Heather had just held. He was officially in love. At this point Ira didn't care if they knew he was there, he just wanted to be near Heather. So it wouldn't seem like he was just making things up he walked into the pond and began to wash off.

As Heather walked off into the trees she blushed deeper than ever and leaned against a tree to keep from falling back. She couldn't believe it, she had just met the most gorgeous raccoon she had ever seen. She didn't want to leave him all alone like that, but he promised he would come meet the others. She couldn't wait for it.

As Ira bathed he began to argue with himself yet again. This time it was over whether or not he should go meet the others that he had been observing. He didn't want them to overreact and cast him away, but at the same time he did promise Heather and he didn't want to disappoint her.

"Go ahead and meet them, she will tell them about you anyway," he said to himself.

"Well, what if they push you away, and they never believed Hammy, so why would they believe her," he thought back.

"Both of you shut up," he finally said aloud, " I'm doing it for her and that's final".


	2. First Impressions

**Chapter 2: First Impressions**

Ira scrubbed his fur to the point to where it almost hurt. He so desperately didn't want to be doing this, but if he did have to meet the others, then he at least had to make a good first impression. While he bathed he debated on what to say to them when he met them. He couldn't mention the fact he listened in to their conversations, or that he had been 'borrowing' their food.

He decided he would keep it simple. Tell them only what he had to about himself, and ask questions occasionally so they didn't get suspicious. But whenever the opportunity to talk to Heather would arise he would take the chance.

He stepped from the pond as clean as he was going to get and tried to shake most of the water from his fur. He stood in the bright sun for a while to dry out what was left and could hear the bushes behind him start to rustle. Almost instantly he grabbed the nearest tree and shot up it like a bullet stopping at the first branch he could reach. He lowered himself close to the branch and watched the spot he had just came from.

"Stupid dog," mumbled the brown raccoon as he emerged from the bushes and sat down beside the pond. He started grabbing handfuls of water and splashing them on his face in disgust. Ira had seen this raccoon before, and knew his name was RJ, and even though he was gong to have to meet him eventually he was nervous about lowering himself.

He slowly and quietly climbed down the back of the tree and rushed off into the forest in the same direction he watched Heather run. He looked around for her as he walked but soon realized that she had probably run off to be with the others at that point. As he walked further through the trees he could hear the laughter of the animals that he had been living alongside for those long two months. It was unsettling to be getting this close, but it was for Heather, so after taking one shaky breath, he revealed himself.

"H-hello," he said shyly. They all turned to him and gasped at first but then Heather smiled brightly and darted towards him wrapping her arms around him.

"This is my friend Ira I was telling you about guys, I met him down by the pond," she giggled with excitement as she pulled over towards the group. Ira grew nervous as she pulled him towards the group, but if she could trust him then he could trust her.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Ira," said a small green turtle who walked over to him cautiously.

"My name is Verne and this is our little family," he said waving towards the others.

"This is Hammy, Stella, Lou, Penny, Ozzie-" Verne started but Ira interrupted him.

"I know all of your names, I've kind of been around for a while," Ira admitted guiltily. He shrugged and looked down to the ground rubbing his arm.

"I was afraid of how you would react to me showing up so I kind of stayed hidden," he continued. The entire group was shocked at the news but took it a lot less drastically than Ira expected them to.

"Well what's there to be afraid of, you seem like a nice person," Ozzie asked. Ira shrugged and shook his head.

"I've never really been around other animals, I was alone a lot of my life so I didn't know what to do," Ira's heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest. He was growing more nervous with every second.

"Well that's ok, we like you," Ozzie said speaking for everyone who shook their heads. Ira felt a wave of relief flash over him and he almost fell over.

"R-really," he asked.

"Of course, in fact why don't you stay with us from now on," suggested Stella. For once in his life, Ira was truly excited. A wide smile beamed across his face and he nodded.

"Well, I guess it's ok with me as long as you guys want him to stay," Verne said. Everyone nodded unanimously and Ira almost cried in excitement.

"If it's alright with you, I'd like to go get some things from my tree," he said. They all nodded and as he started to walk off Heather grabbed his arms.

"I'll go with him so he doesn't get lost," she said quickly. Ozzie started to say something but she dragged him off into the woods before he could complain. Ira's heart melted in her grip. She looked back and gave him a quick wink before slowing down and giving him a hug.

"I love you Ira" she whispered.

"I, I love you Heather," he whispered.

**** Authors note: Hey guys hope you enjoyed the chapter, next chapter may contain some graphic scenes, if you catch my drift so don't like it don't read lol. Until then pd007 out****


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